page_title: Bremen Cathedral
section_title: Dominant structures of the present building
hierarchical_section_title: Bremen Cathedral / History / Dominant structures of the present building
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: St. Petri Dom in Bremen: Ost-Chor mit Hauptaltar und Wegscheider-Orgel
context_page_description: Bremen Cathedral, dedicated to St. Peter, is a church situated in the market square in the center of Bremen, in northern Germany. The cathedral belongs to the Bremian Evangelical Church, a member of the Protestant umbrella organization named Evangelical Church in Germany. It is the previous cathedral of the former Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. Since 1973, it is protected by the monument protection act.
context_section_description: During the rule Prince-Archbishop Gerhard II (1219-1258), the conditions for works on the cathedral improved: On Christmas 1223 the rivalry of Bremen and Hamburg was finished by a papal decision, Bremen became the only see of the archbishopric. In March 1224, another papal decree authorized an indulgence campaign to subsidize a "repair" of the cathedral. The construction of the lower storeys of the western façade and towers – in pure romanesque style – may have begun before the decree and even before the onset of Gerhard's rule.
  Between the towers, a rose window was added, it has already been depicted in Bremen's first municipal seal, cut in 1230. Than, successively and most of  it under the same rule, at first the two westernmost bays of the nave  were vaulted (still almost Romance style), then the aisles in very early Gothic architecture, then central nave, choir, crossing and transept in advanced early Gothic style. Differing from the Romance parts, the vaults and new walls were constructed in brick as were many other large ecclesiastic and public buildings in northern Europe.
  Central nave and choir have double bays with six sections each. The pilars at their corners are supported by flying buttresses (since 1502–'22 only on the southern side). The pilars of the middling ribs, carrying only one fourth (or eighth) of the weight, have none, except of the choir, where they were added as late as in 1911.
  At Easter 1334 Prince-Archbishop Burchard Grelle claimed to have found the skulls of the Saints Cosmas and Damian. He "personally 'miraculously' retrieved the relics of the holy physicians Cosmas and Damian, which were allegedly immured and forgotten in the quire of Bremen Cathedral. In celebration of the retrieval Prince-Archbishop and cathedral chapter arranged a feast at Pentecost 1335, when the relics were translated from the wall to a more dignified place." (For the original quotation see the note) Grelle claimed the relics were those Archbishop Adaldag brought from Rome in 965. In about 1400 the cathedral master-builder Johann Hemeling commissioned a shrine for the relics, which has been accomplished until after 1420. The shrine from carved oak wood covered with gilt rolled silver is considered an important mediaeval gold work. In 1649 Bremen's Chapter, meanwhile Lutheran, sold the shrine with the alleged relics to Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria. It is now shown in the Jesuit church of St Michael in Munich.
  Under Prince-Archbishop Johann Rode, officiating between 1497 and 1511, the basilica style church was further transformed into a German "High Gothic" style church with a new northern nave. Several chapels were added and even more ambitious plans were made for the church.
  While the municipality of Bremen had gained more and more independence from the archbishopric, the cathedral remained under  the control of the chapter and the archbishops. The municipality was divided in four parishes. Even the laic inhabitants of the cathedral immunity had a special parish church, Saint Willehadus chapel. The cathedral was the church of the clergy and for special religious celebrations and special events of the archbishopric. The cathedral and its district were included by the municipal fortifications, but politically they formed an exclave.
caption: The choir has a romanesque floorplan
exif: {}